I wish to apologize, someone hacked the site and put numerous links into the posts. Grandpa is rebuild the site from scratch, I am repairing each post. You may have received multiple emails when the sites is updated. I apologize. I hope you enjoy the looks of the new site. Thanks for your patience.

Archive for the ‘Daily Quotes’ Category

Each day provides its own gifts and today is no different from any other.

Tonight while you lay on your bed discouraged because there have been some failures and some losses, remember to count the gifts as well. The accomplishments of the little one who means so much to you. The tasks you were able to complete today. The laughter of the children as they played. The joy of new discoveries. So many gifts have come your way today. What a wonderful day it has been!

Everybody’s soul is little bit different just as everyone’s home is a little different. In our home mystery and love of children’s literature abound. Dr. Seuss rhymes here. Imagination soars with each new book that has been read.

Other homes have a different kind of soul. There are the homes where the thirst to learn new things is evident in the reading material on the shelves. There are homes where the love of nature is found. And there are homes where depravity lives. It can be seen in the reading material on the coffee tables and under the beds. What kind of a soul do you want your home to have? Don’t be fooled into thinking that what you put into your mind is just a form of relaxation. It is also an expression of the soul of your home.

Everyday as I drive to the hospital where Grandpa is getting his chemo treatments for cancer, I pass a sign with the picture of Beethoven and the words “Hit the High Notes!” Everyday it encourages me to look past the exhaustion, look past all the dozens of things I need to do. It assures me that, with a little effort, I can hit that high note.

Let me encourage you today as well. Your loved one might not be fighting cancer, your little ones might not be special needs but you do have battles you fight every day. You have struggles you go through each and every day. It can make you feel totally overwhelmed. When you reach that point – when you think you’re ready to quit, take a deep breath- reach down inside yourself – and HIT that HIGH note!

Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible. St. Francis of Assisi

This particular quote can get me through every day of cleaning the playroom. Every night I walk into that room and stare at a carpet of toys. Boxes of giant Legos are mixed with wooden blocks, alphabet blocks, toy food and dishes, dinosaurs, stuffed animals, balls from the ball pit, books and zoo animals, and the list goes on.

Before we go on, let’s just get past the part where I should have taught my children to be neater and I should make them clean up after themselves. Let’s just realize that some people call my little ones ‘special needs’. I just call them special. So Nature Boy can figure out ‘clean up’ when we talk about the ball pit and the Legos but other things confuse him causing him to -literally- tear his hair out. The Little Guy has PIKA which means he eats everything as long as it’s not an actual food so he is too busy eating his toys to put them away.

Anyway, the job looks insurmountable. Time to break it down into what’s necessary. The empty and mostly empty juice boxes that are attracting bugs have got to go. So do those sneaky snacks that have made it into the playroom when I wasn’t looking. Then I start tossing toys in the general direction of their allotted containers which usually reminds me that my height is not the only reason basketball should never have been a career choice for me. Eventually all the toys are in piles close enough to their containers to be scooped up and stored properly. Once they are in their containers, the rocking horse, the little table and chairs, the little trampoline and the books can all be returned to their allotted spots. Bingo! What has seemed impossible has become possible.

Okay. So the playroom is not an earth shattering accomplishment but it is an accomplishment. The point is that you should take your life in little pieces.

Don’t try to fix all the errors of your life and all your shortcomings at once. Pick one piece.

Fix that one. Go on to the next. Work on that for a while. Keep adding those things one at a time until -wonder of wonders- you are accomplishing the impossible.

Here is the test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished: if you’re alive, it isn’t.
Richard Bach

I was thinking about this and wondering how this applies to the teenager in the wheelchair, unable to lift his head or speak. Or maybe the elderly person lying on the nursing home bed paralyzed by a stroke, knowing what it is they are thinking and what it is they wish to say but unable to speak the correct words so that those around them understand. It’s easy to see a ‘normal’ person and say “you have a mission.” After all, you just look at their talents and their level of education, you look at where they are and how they can improve.

A mission can be found.

What mission could there be for those others less fortunate in life? And then it came to me – their mission is to be who they are because who they are teaches the rest of us who we should be. We should be more nurturing. We learn it by providing for their daily comfort. We should be more giving. They teach us how when we meet their needs. We should be more accepting of others and their faults. They insist that we be that simply because they can’t change who and what they are. They teach us patience when we learn to accept that they cannot hurry. Everyone who has been blessed by their presence, gains character traits that are so sorely needed in this world. We call these people ‘handicapped’ but in reality, it is we who are handicapped. We are handicapped by the idea that we can’t complete a mission without doing something. Yet, it might be that sometimes our mission is simply to be.

•”Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
Albert Einstein

I know a few people who subscribe wholeheartedly to this attitude. Reality is an illusion so why not just shape it to fit yourself.

If something isn’t the way you like it or want it, just make up a story and stick to it! Who cares if nobody else saw the same thing you did? Who cares if nobody else remembers things the way you do? It’s an illusion anyway so just enjoy the one you made and let the others enjoy their memories. So what if people call you delusional, daft, wacko and other not-so-favorable names. You like your life the way you remember it. Let the rest of the world beat their heads against brick walls when you come around because you just don’t care!

Let me say to those of you dealing with people like that – give up on the idea of changing them. They are not going to come around! You are just going to give yourself a headache hitting those brick walls.

After all, what is the reason for working to change them? Just because they’re wrong? They like themselves that way! People only change when they are ready. If they have no reason suitable for them to want to change, they won’t. If you’re trying to work with them because what they are doing and saying is hurting themselves or others, then give yourself that headache. It’s worth it if you can keep someone from hurting themselves.

But if it’s not hurting anyone, let it go. If hanging around them just bugs you that much, then distance yourself wherever you can. I realize family members, co-workers and others aren’t so easy to avoid but you can limit your contact. For your own peace of mind, for your own emotional well-being, sometimes that’s all you can do. If you have to meet up with them – if you have to take a stand because others are being harmed – then do it.

If not, there are plenty of other people who are uplifting to be around and who can ease your daily walk.

All I ever really needed to know, I learned in kindergarten.
Robert Fulghum

The older I get the more I realize that I need a little refresher course in kindergarten. You’ve heard of those ‘crusty old men’. You know, the ones who speak their mind without caring what other people think or how it may affect other people? There have been occasions where I am a ‘crusty old woman’. We make jokes and laugh about the people who become like this as they get older. We even envy them just a little their right to talk as they do. After all, they’re old, so we give them leeway. My concern, as I reach that age and begin to behave in that manner, is that I’ve forgotten the kindergarten teachings.

The ones that say ‘be kind’. I’m not senile enough to have forgotten the ‘don’t hit’ class but I sometimes think I may be hitting with my words. As I walk through the mall or the grocery store, I hear a lot of other people who have forgotten those teachings, too.

I hear a lot of kids who don’t seem to have learned them in kindergarten. Maybe the kids learned them but haven’t had the teachings modeled for them at home. It’s possible they should give remedial kindergarten classes at our local community colleges.

There are tools in life that are extremely helpful in keeping you from falling into traps that will slow you down on your road to success. Some traps can even derail you altogether.

Use all the tools you have available. Education is one of those. Common sense is another. Experience will serve you as well. All those things combined work together to help that little inner voice called ‘intuition’ give you directions. Sometimes you may not know why that little voice is saying ‘don’t do this!’ but pay attention anyway.

Intuition is the single most important tool you have to keep you on the winning side. Nurture it. Protect it.

Failure doesn’t mean you’re a failure. It just means you haven’t succeeded yet.
Robert Schuller

Some of the best entertainment to be had can be found while watching a group of 1st and 2nd graders during basketball practice. That basket is waaaaay up there. Do they care? No!! They believe in themselves. They can throw that ball at the basket 10 or 15 times before they actually hit it. They may pout a few times in the process but they don’t quit.

Then suddenly, inexplicably, the ball actually hits the basket.

Smiles and cheers erupt! They were successful. They knew they would be. They have learned what somehow we adults have forgotten. Just because you failed once or twice doesn’t make you a failure. It just means you’re success is delayed a bit. Keep trying.